The MCC has banned members from speaking publicly about the club after a row
over the 'great unwashed' allowed into the Lord's Pavilion.

Lord's may be the spiritual home of cricket, but it is clearly not the home of free speech. Members of the MCC, which is based at the London cricket ground, have been banned from speaking publicly about the club’s workings.

Mandrake disclosed last week that several members had protested on the club’s online noticeboard about the way “the great unwashed” were allowed into the 19th-century Pavilion at Lord’s during T20 matches.

Now, Derek Brewer, the MCC’s chief executive, has told members that they will no longer be able to make comments about anything. “There will no longer be forums on the Online Pavilion where members can post messages,” he said. “This has sometimes not reflected well on the club. Previous attempts to moderate the forums have been unsuccessful. Some members have not been receptive to moderation.”

It is rocket science

Ben Miller, a star of the BBC comedy The Armstrong & Miller Show, brings out a book next month, It’s Not Rocket Science, aimed at encouraging interest in the physical world.

The comedian has discovered that although publishing may not be rocket science, it can be an awfully difficult subject. His publisher, Little, Brown, has written to book reviewers alerting them to an error. “The equals sign has appeared as a minus in the initial print run,” it says. “This has now been rectified.”

This role is murder

Kate O’Mara is currently appearing on stage in Agatha Christie’s play Murder on the Nile, but she is not impressed by her character, Helen ffoliot-ffoulkes.

“She is totally implausible,” complains the star of Dynasty. “I don’t know how to play her. All I can say is I do my best. I don’t know what sort of reality Agatha Christie lived in, but but it’s not where I am from.”